The Film Distributors’ Association has published its annual yearbook, revealing a series of statistics around the UK cinema market in 2018.

A total of 916 films were released in UK cinemas in 2018 – equating to almost 18 new releases per week. That’s a new record, topping the watermark of 900 posted in 2016. In 2017, the number fell slightly to 874. The number has increased significantly over the last decade, growing from 503 in 2009.

Titles - Grosses - % - £1 - £50

However, many of the titles released in 2018 did not return significant grosses. Of the 916, 484 (53%) grossed between £1 and £50,000, with 282 (31%) of those grossing less than £10,000.

Overall, 80.3% of films put into UK cinemas returned less than £500,000, while 3.5% grossed more than £10m, displaying the continued polarisation of the theatrical market.

Films - Year - Event - Cinema - Releases

Of the 916 films released last year, 102 were classified as event cinema releases. Combined, event cinema made up 2.7% of the UK box office last year.

In 2018, the overall market share of the top 20 highest-grossing films was 48.6% (£668m), down from 51.5% the year previously, suggesting a slightly greater spread of takings across more titles. While the year did feature mega-hits including Avengers: Infinity War and Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, there was no hit Star Wars film in the release calendar for the first time in four years (Solo: A Star Wars Story only grossed a disappointing £20m).

Admissions - % - Office - £1

As previously reported, admissions were up by 3.7% to 177 million in 2018, while box office remained roughly static on £1,375,639,001.

The year saw increased dominance for films in the superhero genre. Beyond Avengers, titles included Black Panther, Deadpool 2, Venom, Ant-Man And The Wasp, and Aquaman, as well as two animated superhero films, Incredibles 2 and Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse. In total, one in five cinema tickets purchased across...